Photographic-printing machine.



H. U. STRONG PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB.2,1916.

1,261,177. Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

HUSTRONG H. U. STRONG.

PHOT OGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. I916.

1,261,1 77. Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

4 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

H.U.STRO NG HARRY 'U'. STRONG, F EHILADELPEIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PHOTOGEAPHTC-PRINTING MACHINE.

Application filed February 2, 1916. Serial No. 75,883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. HARRY U. STRONG, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic-Printing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to the art of photography, and-particularly to printing machines used therein.

The printing machines used by professional photographer's provide a box or casing having illuminating means, a sheet of glass extending across said casing, and an opaque member movable downward upon the sheet of glass to hold a negative, a negative mask and a sheet of photographic paper down upon the sheet of glass so that the negative may be printed upon the paper. While these machines are entirely efiective for the purpose of printing the photograph itself and are operative also for printing a tint or border around the picture, this can only be accomplished in two operations.

The photographic View is printed in one op eration and the printing of a half-tone tint around it to form a border is an additional operation which requires an entire change in the printing machine. The negative is laid upon the sheet of glass with the sensitive paper on top of the negative. The picture is printed by the light passing upward through the negative. In order to secure the tint it is necessary to remove the printed photograph, change the masks, then replace the print and go through the process of printing over again. This is the universal custom today, necessitating two printings and extremely careful registry in order to obtain the tint or border around the photographic view. This operation is so delicate and adds so much to the cost that in ordinary cheap work the tinted border is left off, thus saving one printing and the register work.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine which will print both the photo graphic view and the outside or border tint at one and the same time and which will do away with the necessity of the delicate register work, thus greatly increasing the speed with which the photographs can be made with the tinted border, doing away with danger of the tint and view getting out of Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

and the view mask can be accurately registered initially and whereby after this one registration is made there is no further necessity of re-registering the tint mask and the view mask.

My invention is illustrated in panying drawings, wherein:

igure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a printing apparatus constructed in accordthe accomance with my invention and showing the hood and intermediate frame raised;

Fig. 2 is a like view of Fig. 1 but showing the intermediate framelowered but the hood raised;

Fig. 3 is a like view to Figs. 1 and 2 but showing the hood and the intermediate frame both lowered, with the parts in position for printing;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on 4-l of Fig. 3;

ig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the relative positions of the supporting panes of glass, the negative, the masks and the sensitive paper.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a box or casing designed to contain electric lights 11 and forming a dark chamber. This box or casing is supported upon legs in any usual or ordinary manner. An opening 12 the line is formed in the top of the casing and immediately above this opening there is disposed a sheet of glass 13 mounted in any suitable frame 14-. This sheet of glass 13 may be mounted upon the upper face of the box in any used it should be fastened firmly to the top of the box.

Hinged to the top of the box or casing 10 is a frame 15 which is rabbeted upon its inside face, as at 16, to provide-a seat for a sheet of glass 17. This glass 17 rests loosely in the seat 16 and the height of the frame 14; is such that when the frame 15 ,is closed down upon the casing 10 the sheet of glass 17 will rise and be supported by the sheet of glass 18. It is for this reason that the.

frame 15 is cut away so as to permit the pane of glass 17 to lift slightly as the frame 15 is lowered and also bear by its own weight againstthe glass 13.

Hingedly mounted upon the frame 15 is a hood 18 within which are disposed the electric lights 19, this hood resting upon the upper face of the frame 15 and being provided on its sides with the semi-elliptical springs 20 which bear against the sheet of glass 17 so that when the hood is closed against the frame 15 the springs 20 will force the sheet of glass 17 to its seat or will force the sheet of glass 17 against the sheet of glass 13. Latches 21 are provided for operatively connecting the frame 15 to the hood 18 so that the hood and frame 15 will move together.

While the electric lights 19 and 11 may be turned oil and on by any suitable switch, as for instance, the ordinary snap switch, I have illustrated my construction as provided with means for automatically energizing the lamps or closing the circuit between the lamps and the source of power when the hood 18 is closed in the position shown in Fig. 3, and automatically deenergizing the lamps by breaking the circuit when the hood is raised. To this end the frame 15 is shown as carrying a conductor 22 extending through the frame adjacent the hinge thereof. The hood 18 is shown as provided with a contact member 23 adapted when the hood is closed to engage with the upper end of the conductor 22, and the top of the box or casing 10 is also shown as provided with a contact member 2 1 with which the conductor 22 engages when the frame 15 is closed down upon the box or casing 10. From the contact member 23 extends a conductor 25 to the lamps 19, and a return conductor 26 extends from these lamps tothe battery 27 or other source of power.

From th'e battery 27 extends a conductor 28 which leads to a manually operable snap switch 29 and from thence extends a conductor 30 through the lamps 11 and to the contact member 24. A red incandescent lamp designated 31 is also disposed in the box or casing 10 and is connected in a separate circuit with the battery i and is intended to be energized at all times while the machine is in use. A snap switch 32 or any other suitable device for the purpose is used to turn this lamp off or on. It is to be understood, of course, that the wiring shown is purely illustrative and that I do not wish to limit myself to the particular manner of wiring illustrated. The red lamp 31 is for the illumination of the sensitive paper in order that it may be properly placed before it is exposed to the white printing lights.

In use my machine will be operated as follows: The lights 19 are sufficiently strong to print through the back of the sensitive paper upon which the photographic print is made. The view mask a, Fig. 5, is first disposed on the glass sheet 13 with the machine in the position shown in Fig. 1. The negative 6 is then laid upon the view mask. The frame 15 is lowered so that the sheet 17 rests upon the mask 6 and the negative. The tint mask (1 is then laid upon the face of the sheet 17 and accurately registered with the mask a. The mask (1 is attached in place in any suitable manner so that it will not slip. All is now ready for printing. The hood with the frame 15 is raised, the sensitive paper 0 is disposed upon the negative and view mask, the hood 18 is lowered together with the frame 15 and the switch 29 is turned to connect the lamps with the source of current. The view, that is, the picture itself, will be printed by the lamps 11 in the usual manner but the tint will be printed-by the lamps 19, the light of which passes through the 53611511111 6 paper. The springs 20 are of considerable importance as these springs cause the glass 17 to bear firmly against the sheet of sensitive paper, the negative and the mask 1). The sheets of glass 17 and 13 are held together by the springs 20 as close as the intervening matter will allow, and it will be obvious that as the glass 17 is close to the frame 15 it will press downward on top of the glass 13 regardless of the thickness of the negative, mask and sensitive paper a, b and 0.

While the sheet of glass 17 is to a certain extent movable within the frame 15 so that it may shift vertically to compensate for any thickness of material between the glass 13 and 17, it should not shift laterally but should be held to or by the frame 15 to a suflicient degree to prevent its moving laterally in the frame 15. Any movement sidewise of the glass 17 in the frame 15 will throw the masks out of register. When the two glasses 13 and 17 come together, it must always be in exactly the same position in order that the masks attached to these glasses will always meet inexact register. Any means for holding the glass in the frame which will permit vertical movement of the glass 17 but not permit lateral movement thereof will be used for this purpose.

While I have described and illustrated the tint mask 03 as being disposed upon the top or upper surface of the sheet of glass 17 it may also be placed upon the under face of the glass 17 and this in many respects is preferable. It is within my invention, however, to place the tint mask either on the under side of the sheet of glass 17 or on the upper side thereof.

With this construction it is possible to print the tinted border through the sensitive paper at the same time that the subject is printed on the face of the paper, thus ac- 1. In a photographic printing machine,

means for supporting a sheet of sensitized paper with the negative on one side thereof, means for directing light rays through the negative and onto the paper, a tint mask adapted to be disposed on the other side of the paper, and means for directing light rays against thetint mask and through the paper.

2. In a photographic printing machine, means for supporting a sheet of sensitized paper with the negative on one side thereof, means for directing light rays through the negative and onto the paper, a light interrupting object adapted to be disposed on the other side of the paper, and means for directing light rays against said object and through the paper,

3. In a photographic printing machine, relatively movable lamp containing casings confronting each other When closed and means for supporting a negative in connection with one casing, and a mask in connection with the other casing whereby to affect the sensitive paper by light rays directed against both faces of the paper.

4. In a photographic printing machine of the character described; a casing having a light opening; illuminating means therein; a sheet of transparent material extending across the opening and adapted to support a negative, a View mask and a sheet of sensitized paper; a frame hinged to the casing;

' a sheet of transparent material adapted to be loosely, supported in said frame for movement away from the casing and adapted to confront the first-named sheet; and a hood detachably connected to said frame and adapted to be placed in contact therewith; and illuminating means disposed Within the hood. I

5. In a photographic printing machine of the character described, a. casing having a light opening, illuminatingmeans therein; a sheet of transparent material extending across the opening and adapted to support a negative, a mask and a sheet of sensitized paper; a frame hinged to the casing for movement into or out of parallel relation thereto; a sheet of transparent material adapted to be loosely mounted in said frame for movement away from the casing, said sheet being adapted to support a tint mask; a hood hinged to the frame and adapted to be turned into contact therewith; means for engaging the hood with the frame for common movement; illuminating means disposed within the hood; and resilient means coacting with'the hood to urge the transparent sheet in said .frame downward against the'transparent sheet supported by the casing when the hood is closed.

6. In a photographic printing machine of the character described, a base case having a light opening, illuminating means therein, a sheet of glass extending across the opening and supported above the upper portion of the casing, aframe hinged to the base casing and adapted to be disposed against the top of the casing and to surround the sheet of glass supported thereby, the frame being rabbeted upon its upper surface, a sheet of transparent material loosely supported in said rabbets on the frame and adapted to bear against the first-named sheet, a hood hinged to the frame, means for detachably connecting the hood to the frame for unitary movement, and springs carried by the hood bearing when the hood. is closed against the sheet of glass in said frame and forcing it down against the firstnamed sheet.

7. In a printing machine of the character described, a base casing having a light opening, a-sheet of glass extending across the opening and supported above the level of the top of the casing, a frame hinged to the to of the casing and when in contact therewit surrounding the sheet of glass,- a sheet of glass loosely supported in said frame for movement away from the base casing, a hood hingedly mounted upon the frame, means on the hood for detachably engaging with the frame for unitary movement, illuminating means disposed within the hood and within the base casing, and means for automatically energizing both of said illuminating means when the hood is closed and deenergizing both of said illuminating means when the hood is open.

8. Ina photographic printing machine of the character described, a base casing having a light opening; a sheet of glass extending across the opening and adapted to support a negative, a mask and a sheet of sensitized paper; a frame hinged to the top of the base casing and having a sheet of glass adapted to confront the first-named sheet and rest thereon; a hood hinged to said frame and adapted to be turned into contact therewith; electric lamps disposed in the hood and in the base casing; a contact member disposed upon thebase casing immediatelybeneath the frame; a contact the hood and when the" above the frame; a conductor carried by the frame with which said contact members engage the lamps being connected in circuit with a source of current through said contacts and conductor when the hood and frame are closed.

9. A photographic printing machine including relatively movable lamp containin casings confronting each other when close having openingsin their confronting sides, and a transparent negative support extending across the opening of one of said cas- 111 's.

T0. The method of photographically printing a photographic picture and a tint or border around the picture, consisting in disposing a tint mask on the unsensitized surface of a sheet of sensitized paper, and Si multaneously printing the picture on the sensitized face of said sheet by light directed immediatel against said sensitized surface and printlng said border by light directed against said tint mask and the un- "sensitized surface of the sheet.

11. The herein described method of mak ing a photographic print consisting in submitting the emulsioned surface of the print paper to action by light throu h a negative and distributed uniformly t roughout a. predetermined area, and submitting a portion of the emulsified surface surrounding the first named area to action by light from the reverse side through the print paper, the portion of the reverse side registering witlr such area being protected against the action of the light from the rear.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnemes.

HARRY U. STRONG.

Witnesses J OHN C. MELLON, FRANK T. MATTHEWS. 

